Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1914 — HAPPENINGS IN THE CITIES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HAPPENINGS IN THE CITIES

Funny Newspaper Article Traps Hungry Vagrant - - - -

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL—Dawn was breaking and the streets were very still as Policeman McCarte proceeded along' his beat on Golden Gate •venae, near Fillmore street At midnight, five hours before, when Policeman

McCarte, having just reported for duty stood in line with his fellow patrolmen In the assembly room of the Bush street police station, the lieutenant instructed the watch to be particularly on the look out for milk and paper thieves. Policeman McCarte suddenly remembered the warning of his superior officer as he was gazing at the reddening sky over Oakland and he beard a hearty peal of laughter Issuing from some point halfway down the block. Hearty laughter at dawn when the laughter is not of a maudlin character is an extraordinary phenomenon. This laughter had the tone of sobriety, of appreciation and seemed to proceed from a mirth that bubbled up dike a mountain spring in the winter season. , McCarte pulled himßelf together quickly and

hastened down the block on tiptoe to investigate. In the middle of the square he found a remarkably dirty, bewhiskered tatterdemalion seated coolly, on the front steps of a residence reading the morning which he had picked up from the doorstep and chuckling continually as he read. The vagrant made quite a picture. In his right hand be Held a bottle of milk which he had half emptied and which from time to time he would place to his lips and take a luxurious sip of the beverage. “Ho, ho!” laughed the vagrant arriving at another funny point in the article, then gazing upward, magnetized no doubt by McCarte’s scrutiny and seeing no mirth in the eyes of McCarte’s, “Come wit you?” said he as if McCarte had spoken when as a matter of fact the latter had so far uttered not a word, “Wy sure. Wait’ll I finish dls here milk. De loidy wotent use wot’s in de bottle now, anyway. Say, afore we go chust pipe dls here article, will yer?” - , \ : - ~ ' • „ . Five hours later the newspaper was Exhibit No. lin the case before Polio* Judge Sullivan, wherein the vagrant was charged with petty larceny.